Point of view

Have you ever been startled by another person's POV?

Our kids helped out at my grad reception Sunday. Everyone pitched in, set up food, parked cars, and greeted people. There was nary a ripple of the teen sulks that would have accompanied requests for help 10 years ago. Oh this season is sweet!!! (Moms of teenagers, you know what I'm talking about.)

We prepped food upstairs. One son ran food and drink down the steps to the main level of the house. "Where shall I put these?" he asked, holding out a tray of drinks.

"Put them on the island, on the left side of the sink," I replied. "And put the food on the right, with the plates in the middle."

I strolled downstairs as guests were arriving. Sure enough––my son had placed things exactly as I had asked. Good man! What surprised me was that the drinks seemed to be on the right and food was on the left. The plates were in the middle of the food.

Then it occurred to me. My son had set things down from the dining area, looking into the kitchen. My POV would have been from inside the kitchen, looking outward. I had asked him to place plates between food and drinks for a natural flow of traffic. He understood "in the middle" to mean plates would be centered in the food area.

It wasn't a big deal––a friend rearranged a few things and the buffet was served. But the little interaction between my son and me, familiar and beloved as son and mom, got me to thinking.

How many times do we hear sermons, lectures, or instructions that puzzle us? We follow the information but the person telling us what to do would be taken aback by the results. Possible reasons for a POV mixup:

• We don't know the person giving directions so we interpret words differently than intended.
• Our heritage or worldview inclines us to certain patterns of behavior so we make assumptions about the request.
• The setting is uncomfortable or strange to us so we have no reference points for carrying out a task.

There are many other reasons for confusion. Let's cut each other some slack this week and assume good intentions and hard work, even when the outcome isn't exactly what we imagined it might be!

One of the dangers of reading ourselves into Scripture is assuming that we understand God and what he requires of us. We think He agrees with aspects of our culture that may be against his nature (sloth, gluttony, and greed, to name a few). Or we hope He only works in church settings where we are comfortable (rather than flinging us into the world to do His work).

During my research, I was both thrilled and dismayed by the POV that American Pentecostals read into missions work and administration. How clearly and how dimly the pioneer Pentecostals understood God's intentions for the nations! Yet their zeal and hard work brought souls into the Kingdom of God, transformed societies, and raised up national Christian leaders.

I am glad God continues to work today despite our failures at understanding Him and his interactions with others. Do you look forward to understanding his POV some day? That's when we'll know as we are known. Some glad morning ...

Read more:

*All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. Exodus 24:7

*Christ says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35

*They were completely amazed. 'How can this be?' they exclaimed. 'These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!' They stood there amazed and perplexed. 'What can this mean?' they asked each other." Acts 2:7–8, 12

*All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV

Moravian Prayer: Jesus, the world will know we are your disciples by the love shown in our words and by our example to others. Let the words of our mouths, the thoughts of our hearts and our actions be to your glory. Amen.

Back to school

The kids are not the only ones going back to school. I've picked up the pace on studies again, flipping through notes from winter and spring, reading original journals of missionaries and early Pentecostals, while grinding through edits and revisions along the way.

If our brains need stimulation to keep growing and strong, it pays to keep learning and trying new things. Hope the studies don't make me lose my mind instead!

Our bodies get bored, too. I'm about ready to get off this chair to take the dog for a walk.

How about our spirits? I listened to a reading of Genesis 10-15, the journey from Babel to Abraham in Canaan, awaiting a promised son.

Abraham's father was also on the way to Canaan, but stopped in Haran. Had God called him, too? Only after his father died did Abraham move westward toward the promised country. Even then, Abraham knew so little about God. Scripture was not yet written, God made personal appearances, and sacrifices were the norm. Abraham trusted and obeyed (faith), but he also attempted to "help" God to realize the promises, with disastrous, long-lived consequences.

My morning's meditation was "The God who Knows." I sat enthralled, considering our God who is never confused, surprised, or out of options. Then a phrase from previous meditations began to insert itself: "The Beloved God."

Finally, my heart came to rest on "The Beloved God who Knows." Ah, who else has a God like this? He knows us. Carries us in our weaknesses. Loves us. Wants us to love him in return. Embraces us with care and benevolence.

May our bodies, souls. and spirits be devoted to loving him today with the obedience of wholehearted trust.

What's your back-to-school "aha" today? Are there impossibilities that God wants to answer in a miraculous way?

• Letting a little one go for that first day of school
• Believing that healing is on its way
• Trusting that financial challenges will be met
• Provision for that difficult relationship
• Meeting the needs of a troubled family, friendship group, or congregation
• Or?

Read more:

*But Moses protested again, "What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, 'The Lord never appeared to you'?"

Then the LORD asked him, '"What is that in your hand?"

"A shepherd's staff," Moses replied.

"Throw it down on the ground," the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

Then the LORD told him, "Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand. Exodus 4:1–4 NLT

*Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:28 NIV 

*But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV